Vrepit Sa, my friend
by Thatgirlinthepajamas
Summary: The Galra Empire is not as stable as it seems. Ancient powers emerge to unite with Voltron, and unlikely rebels seek out alliances with the enemy. With risk, comes trust and with trust comes love. Eventual OCxKeith. This is mostly about a druid, a Galra rebel and the Paladins.
1. Vrepit Sa

"Vrepit Sa."

The screen blinked momentarily before the image of Zarkon disappeared. The room was silent for a few more ticks.

"Vrepit Sa…" murmured the druids.

They were quiet, fearful of exposing any character to the overarching senior, Haggar. The druids were only an extension of the Galra Empire, the arms of Emperor Zarkon that reached through his colonies and the universe.

Their purpose was to serve.

They were not individuals, they held a collective identity. They were all Druids. And each of them was a Druid.

The use of names was limited, only amongst themselves did they address each other with names, and only their senior Druids and Zarkon had the right to address them individually.

Haggar gave a sinister, albeit conceited chuckle and her aged, scratchy voice sent shivers through the young druids,

"Welcome to the Empire at last, my children."

…..

"This mask is _so annoying._ " Whined Algor, one of the stockier druids. He pried the mask from his face, his ears twitching uncomfortably, "Why do they even make these _so creepy_ _looking_?"

"Stop complaining Algor, they're not that bad." Merphus winked at his chubby friend, stretching his skinny arms over his head, "Did you see our robes? They're so neat."

"…Did you just wink at me Merph? You know I can't see your eyes through the mask right?"

Merphus winked at him again, "Yep, you and I are definitely mind-connected. Zarkon's pretty creative, you gotta' admit."

Maya scuttled across the room to fish her robe out the plastic bag it was packed into, "I doubt Zarkon designed these," She tore through the plastic in her impatience, "Man, these are soft."

"You bet! They're Galra-design. Everything Galra is made to the highest quality."

Algor and Maya turned to exchange a look, groaning at Merph's obsession with the Galra Empire.

"I really hate your mask." Maya added, flicking the little beak of Algor's mask as he put it back on. 

"Trust me, it's not the best. How come yours is still different? I thought you'd change your mask after we got initiated."

Merph and Algor both turned their faces to her, and she could imagine their curious looks beneath them.

"You know how it is, I have to make sure my whole face is covered at all times, too many scars." She mumbled, placing a hand on her forehead with feigned dismay. Her pod-mates laughed, pulling on their robes in preparation for their newly assigned duties.

Merph let out a mildly sinister chuckle, "One day Maya, one day I'm going to see what your face is really like beneath that mask."

"It'll probably be your last." She hissed back, mimicking Haggar's tone as they strode towards the door of their shared chamber, Algor hurrying after them.

"Guys, guys, we have to get into character before we leave."

Sighing in annoyance they squared their shoulders and pulled their hoods over their heads. Maya ran her hands over the smooth mask she'd worn most of her life as a druid-in-training. It was dark purple and had four yellow slits- two over each eye, giving the impression that she had four. The mask was unusual in that it covered all of her head, as in it went over her hair and down to the nape of her neck, covering every inch of skin possible. With it on, it was impossible to guess whether she was a boy or a girl, especially with her body being covered by the robe.

She was forbidden from taking it off in the presence of _any_ living being. Her mother had given it to her the day her powers had begun to show themselves.

She remembered wearing it to her father's funeral, too.

Shaking the dark memories from her mind, she filed out behind her friends into the long hallway of the ship.

Wordlessly, they split and went their separate ways. Merph knew where he was meant to be and vanished in a show of dark static, Algor and Maya going opposite ways.

Maya was meant to watch how the druids managed the energy of the ship, preserving it efficiently enough to ensure that in case of an attack, Galra ships would be able to fight back with optimum power.

As she silently made her way down the corridor, she passed a group of chattering Galra soldiers and from their young faces and voices, she guessed that they were new recruits.

Upon noticing the silent druid, their chattering silences until they had passed her and she had left them far behind. It unnerved her that the druids were such an image of intimidation and fear.

Ahead of her, she recognized Lieutenant Thace addressing two soldiers, a frown set on his face. She had to keep her body from tensing up. Figures of authority made her nervous.

As he turned his head to make note of her, he dismissed the soldiers and they scuttled off, shrinking in his presence and hers, intimidated by both.

Thace did not spare her a glance as he returned to the central command of the ship, the door sliding shut behind him, punctuated by the smooth, electronic whirring of the ship. Maya couldn't help but notice the smooth lines of his face- with Galra it wasn't difficult to judge age and Thace appeared to be surprisingly young. Maya wouldn't put him past 24. It was impressive, he was possibly one of the youngest lieutenants she'd met…or seen, Haxus being the only other lieutenant she'd had the _courtesy_ of coming across.

Maya sighed, continuing her venture to the power and energy room, unsure of exactly _where_ it was supposed to be. It occurred to her then, that she should have scouted it out after their brief introduction on the ship this 'morning'. Groaning, she envied Merph's planning. He was one efficient Galra.

' _You are late.'_ An eerie voice whispered as Maya stepped into the massive energy chamber. There were three other druids already present.

'Apologies, I had trouble locating the room.' Communicating telepathically was one druid-habit that always set the younger druids off. You could never guess when someone would summon you or admonish you or say anything at all, until you'd had enough practice.

She could sense the dislike the senior druid already held for her, recognizing her mask. Maya had forever gone as the 'half-breed' among the older druids, until Haggar had put an end to the use of the name to win over the trust of the younger girl. But that was years ago.

Seven years to be precise.

' _Are you paying attention?'_

Maya snapped back to the present, hurrying to her position across from the other druids to begin the energy channelling process.

She could feel the warm energy buzzing through her and burning through her hands- using her power had never been painless, but while it stung it eventually faded to a very pleasant thrum of numb energy. The dark purple crackles of energy transferred from one cylinder to the next, harvesting quintessence.

Following that first day, her month on-board Commader Prorok's ship had passed unceremoniously until, amidst the mundane work, whispers passed through the minds of all the young druids.

' _There is a traitor…The Blade of Marmora…find him…secret.'_

Their minds had been abuzz with druid intel, and the druids were forbidden from discussing it. The orders had come directly from Haggar and their investigation was meant to be secret. From that point onwards, the three friends began to communicate less with each other. The increasing silence was not a lack of trust, it was secrecy in the name of success.

Merph was, as the other two were aware of, focused on locating this traitor to facilitate his rise in the ranks. He was doing well and was given much admiration and constructive criticism by his overarching seniors.

Maya remained nowhere close to earning respect from hers and Algor…was well-liked and mostly unnoticed.

Maya had taken off the next day to remain silently in her sleep-chamber, digging through her belongings to fish out the blade her father had always carried. Now, more than ever, she was afraid that it was _her_ they were looking for. But the little information they had indicated that it was one of the Galra soldiers, not any of the druids.

Tiredly running a hand through her loose hair, she stood up shakily to cautiously watch her reflection in the mirror above the little sink in her room.

"I hate this." She mumbled to herself, running her glove-less fingers over the smooth skin of her cheeks as she pressed her hands into her face. She had the appearance of her father, the same eyes, same dark hair.

She was very human.

She ran her fingers along the conch of her ear, fascinated by how different she was from other Galra. The only evidence of her mixed-genes was her power, her ability to use druid magic.

A knock at her door sent her scrambling for her mask.

"Hold on!" She yelled, shoving it over her loosely tied bun and securing it, the mechanics within the mask whirring to clamp around the nape of her neck.

As she pressed her hand to the controls to the door, it slid open and before her stood Merph.

"Hey, did you check your messages? Some of us have been summoned to see the Commander."

Maya responded slowly, panicking when she realized her father's blade lay on the bed, unhidden.

"Uhhhh…I'll check later." She moved to close the door, but Merph stopped her.

"Could you uh…check it now?"

Annoyed, she pulled out her notifier and scrolled through the days messages.

"Nope, nothing." She held it in front of him to see, his shoulders drooped in relief.

"Okay, cool. I didn't get a message either. Maybe it's for the newbies that aren't doing so well." He laughed to himself as he turned away, catching the glint of something metallic on her bed in the room. Curious, he made note of it.

Maya retreated to her room with a roll of her eyes, "See you around Merph."

As she locked her door, she pressed the release button on the side of her mask, yanking it off her head dismally.

"Ow." She shook her hair free and trudged back to stand over the bed, the blade glimmering at her as it lay in the sheets. She could see her yellow-gold irises reflected in the cool silver of its gleaming surface and she wondered if she'd ever be able to wield the blade as a weapon.

The digital clock by her bed indicated that it was time to sleep, but Maya had other plans. Her black body-suit on and her hair tied up in a bun, she put the mask back on and attached the blade to her waist, not trusting her friend enough to leave it in the room. She pulled her robe on, not bothering to pull the hood up.

She had found an interesting alternative exit from her room in the ceiling. Prying one of the panels away using her powers, she climbed up into the shaft and with cat-like grace, began to climb higher until she came to the end of the shaft. Pushing the panel up, she peered out into the darkened chamber.

She hadn't figure out where the shaft led, which is what she was doing now.

Pushing the panel off, it slid with a heavy scrape against the floor as she climbed up. The light in the room suddenly flashed on, leaving Maya's eyes to dart around the room in panic as she froze only halfway out of the shaft.

"What are you doing in here?" A calm, deep voice rumbled through to her. She slowly turned her head, glad for the mask to conceal her embarrassment.

It was Lieutenant Thace.

Generally, it was druid-code to never use your voice to address others.

"I was...uh…exploring."

Whether her feminine voice surprised him, she couldn't tell. He strode towards her and walked past her, situating himself on the far end of the room. He leaned against a work-desk with his arms crossed.

"Get out of there."

Scrambling to follow his orders, she hoisted herself out and pushed herself to her feet.

She stood with her hands behind her back, lowering her gaze when she saw the hilt of a blade peeking out on the desk from behind him.

'Why does he have that?'

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

Scrambling for appropriate answers, Maya managed to shrug. "I was curious and climbed up something I shouldn't have."

"That doesn't sound like an apology."

Remaining silent, she tried to dismiss the tightness in her throat. She recognized the hilt, because all the blades were meant to be the same in their initial form. She'd read up on the blades enough to know.

"Lieutenant Thace," She started, and silenced again, fidgeting with her hands. He seemed to twitch, but he showed no impatience as he watched her with a relaxed expression, "What is it, druid?"

She hesitated again, and rambled out the rest of her sentence as silently and as quickly as possible. "They're looking for you, they know there's a rebel here. You have to be careful."

He uncrossed his arms, but his expression remained unchanged.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

She lowered her head and shrugged, "I guess that's a good thing…but I recognize the hilt." She gestured with her hand to the blade barely hidden behind him.

"You…break into my room and tell me I'm the traitor the druids are looking for?"

'So he knows they're looking for someone…' Maya wondered momentarily if perhaps the blade wasn't his and she'd revealed herself as a rebel-empathizer.

"…Yes?"

He closed his eyes and smiled, "You're still young, you have to be more careful about how you approach these things. What if I wasn't the traitor but I'd already found him and taken his blade into my possession?"

"…Sorry."

"You should go now."

Prying her eyes away from the lieutenant, she peered down the shaft, noticing a shadow in her room below.

"Somebody is in my room." She mumbled.

Thace eyed the masked woman curiously and shook his head, "Serves you right for breaking into mine."

"Goodbye Lieutenant."

He gave her a stern look as she jumped into the shaft. He could hear her sliding against the wall as she shot through it and back into her room. Some yelling ensued and Thace hurried to slide the panel back into place.

'What in the name of Marmora…' He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair as he pushed one of the tables over the panel, hoping she wouldn't try climbing into his room again.

Allies were everywhere, he realized.


	2. Intrusion

_Basically I suffer from writing-diarrhea and I never know when to stop. I really want to build Maya's background before she interacts with the Paladins but I also want them to just meet. Also considering making this an OCxShiro, rather than OCxKeith... But maybe both? Leave reviews, I love to hear from you readers!_

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

"What the hell are you doing in my room Merph!?"

The lanky druid nearly fell over from surprise, his purple cheeks darkening in shame as Maya fell from the hole in the ceiling of her room.

"Maya!" He stumbled away from her bed, where he had been spying around for the blade, "I…I was looking for your notifier, I wanted to make sure you weren't lying about the message from the commander…"

Maya said nothing, crossing her arms at the intruder and grumbling a few swear words under her breath.

"Honestly? Get out Merph."

Scratching the back of his head, he pouted as he turned to leave. With his awkward departure, Maya wandered to the door-control and mulled over how he could've broken in.

'Probably hacked into it…'

Frustrated, she pulled out her notifier to log a request for repairs.

'I'll have to hide my blade somewhere else.'

Carrying it on her at all times wasn't really a smart option. With the lock of her door broken, she would have to sleep with her mask on, much to her annoyance. Pausing to contemplate, Maya realized she could use her magic to weld the door together.

Manipulating hard-matter had been her highest scoring ability at the academy and it had brought her this far for a reason. Eyebrows furrowed in concentration, she reached out with her right hand, her fingers tracing the cool metal as she ran her hand down the small gap between the door and its latch. Her fingers quivered for a moment as sparks danced across and between them, a purple glow emanating from her hand and painting the reflective metal with softly glowing light. To Maya it was magical, watching the metal melt and bridge across the gap to join the wall. Unless someone broke down the door, they wouldn't be able to come through it.

"Sweet." Stepping away, she turned her back on the door to pry the mask off her face, tossing it onto her unmade bed. Lifting up the mattress, she stowed her blade under it, making a mental note to take it with her in the morning.

"Maybe I can ask Thace for help tomorrow." She muttered under her breath as she zipped herself out of her bodysuit. He did owe her for the warning.

She dropped the material callously where she stood and strode to the sink to wash her face. Dark strands of violet-black hair pooled in the sink momentarily, and she whipped it up into a bun to get it out of the way. As she finished brushing her teeth, she brought up the little towel to dab her face dry, eyeing her skin critically in the reflection.

'What the hell.' She tugged her cheek, pulling a face at herself in the mirror. Her skin was smooth and pale, but it was not fair by any means. Her complexion was the wheaty-brown of hot sands, just like those in the Earth deserts her father had pictures of. Unlike the other druids, her powers did not manifest any marks on her face or anywhere else on her body.

Haggar had said that it was an abnormality, possibly a deficit because of her genes. Exhaling heavily, Maya strode to her bed, picking up her pyjamas from the hook on the wall and shimmying into them.

"Goodnight Maya." She mumbled, pulling the sheets away to crawl into the bed, one hand settling by her head as she flicked off the lights.

Falling into a fitful sleep, she didn't stir until the morning-alarm rang through the ship.

Groaning, she stayed in bed and rolled onto her side, not wanting to begin the day.

"…wait. Today is…"

With a jolt, Maya threw off the sheets and ran to the in-built shower cabin of her room.

Druids, although graduated from the academy, still had to demonstrate their affinity for combat on a monthly basis. Unprepared and panicked, Maya bounded from one end of the room to the other, trying to find her combat-uniform. It was not different from the other Galra armour, but it was compatible with druid-powers, allowing the wearers to use their magic as formed-weapons. It was greatly useful for Maya because her fighting style revolved around forming glowing power-blades around her fists.

As she clamped her mask into place, she threw her robe over her shoulders and blasted the welded bit of the door with a hasty burst of energy.

"I'm so fucking late."

Breaking into a sprint, she grabbed a can of liquid-breakfast, unclamping her mask to chug half of it. She dropped it onto the counter of the chamber-kitchen, reattaching her mask and rushing out.

As she hurried out the door, she paused, realizing she hadn't taken her shield. Turning sharply on her heel, she sprinted back to her room, sliding across the floor to hoist the heavy luxite shield onto her back. As she ran back out, she moved the shield from her back, jumping onto it and using her powers to lift herself off the ground and shoot down the hallway- effectively surfing through the long corridor, wishing she could feel the air on her face.

She paused by a panel of glass to stare out at a massive ship- Zarkon's carrier. Its looming massive structures threw shadows over Prorok's ship, and it's gravitational pull had caused the smaller ship to careen slightly towards it.

'Well…fuck.' Nearly yelling in irritation, she shot down towards a sharp turn, zigzagging through the hallways to reach, just in time, the central hall. The entrance was thronged by soldiers, some leaving and some just…loitering

As she stepped off the shield, it moved and stood vertically in the air by her feet and shot up into her gloved hand, earning her curious looks from the Galra soldiers as she weaved through to the entrance. Peering in, there were too many people inside for her to be noticed and she crept through the throng to stand in line with the other druids, locating Merph's lanky form to slide stealthily into her place. She was greeted by a disapproving hiss as she stepped into line.

"You're late!"

"I didn't know _he_ was coming!" She retorted defensively, wriggling herself to stand to Algor's left.

Algor fumbled as he stepped to the side to make room for her. Maya helped him regain his balance,

"Didn't you hear the alarm this morning?"

Her mouth parted into a small 'o' as she realized that the alarm _had_ been louder than usual, because it was completely different from the usual morning alarm. Algor squinted at her and clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

Above them, a screen buzzed into appearance, Zarkon's face on display for the entire assembly to stare up at. Merph was in awe, as usual. Algor became silent and still. Maya gulped, her throat feeling husky.

"I bring to you great news for the Empire. We have located Voltron."

The assembly remained silent, obedient Galran's peering up at their leader with wider eyes and more discernible interest.

"From this day onwards, all of you under Prorok's command will strive to help him _capture_ Voltron, it is the greatest weapon in the universe and it will bring wonders to our Empire. I wish you all good luck. Vrepit Sa."

The hall echoed loudly with the collective response, "Vrepit Sa!"

The satisfied smirk on Zarkon's mostly expressionless face lingered before the image blinked out. Murmurs broke out among the soldiers. As the druids began filing away, Maya mumbled wistfully above Algor's head.

"I can't believe he called us-"

Someone nudged her and she reverted to mind-speak.

'I can't believe he called us here to tell us about _Voltron._ Not like we didn't already know.'

'I suppose only the druids have been aware so far, not these other Galrans.' Maya didn't miss the condescension in Algor's tone. She nudged him with her palm,

'Oi, oi, come back down to the Empire buddy. You're a small pawn in a big game.'

'I don't know about you two, but I'm certainly _aspiring_ to be more.' Merph nearly goaded, crossing his arms as he brushed passed Maya and Algor to hurry ahead of the group.

"He's acting weird."

"Maya, why do you _verbalize?_ "

"It's not a baaaaad thiiiiiiiiiing. You're doing it too." She droned, side-stepping to let other's pass as they hurried around the two slow druids.

'Everyone will know you're a female if you keep speaking.' Algor protested, firmly believing that the druids had no right to exposing any aspects of their individual identity.

'Everyone already knows Algor, I have _breasts_.'

She chuckled, knowing fully that she could feel him cringing from her comment.

An arm found her elbow and held her back and as she turned in surprise to see who had approached her, she nearly stumbled into a chest.

' _Quiznak!_ What are you doing?!'

Thace blinked at her, confused, "How are you doing that?" Shaking his head to dismiss his confusion, he proceeded to walk ahead of her after he nudged her to follow.

Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, she bid Algor goodbye as she shuffled through the crowd, watching for Thace's head as she ducked around other Galrans.

When she emerged out into the corridor, gasping for air, Thace was nowhere in sight.

Mildly irritated, Maya trudged down towards her chambers, but was pulled by an arm into a room to her right.

A soft gasp escaped her as she adjusted to the dim lighting in the room, surprised to see Thace looming over her.

"I took it from your room."

Blinking, she tilted her head in confusion. The lieutenant crossed his arms, speaking slowly to her, his voice barely a whisper.

"Your room was inspected for repairs today, one of your friends said you had a luxite blade in your possession. One of my officers was ordered to check your room, I managed to retrieve the blade. Couldn't you pick a better hiding place?"

Scowling beneath her mask, she responded petulantly, using her mind-speak, 'Sorry.'

He shrugged, "It's safe, so don't worry about that but watch your back. Trust no one." He stared down at the shorter female, a seriousness in his eyes that she averted her own from.

"…Now get going, today is combat-testing."

Unceremoniously, he shoved her out into the hallway.

Stumbling slightly, she peered around to see if anyone had witnessed her clumsy exit.

'What a rough bastard.'

Inside the room, Thace twitched at the insult. Maya could feel his anger.

Chuckling gently to herself, she felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment as she took long, sweeping steps towards the combat training room. Mind-speak was harder than the older druids made it seem, it required connected-ness and trust, and most of all, focus.

Maya had none of that. She had momentarily forgotten of Thace's warning, only remembering that Merph had reported on her as she approached the hall to the combat-fields.

Frowning, she tapped the cold surface of her mask with a gloved hand, 'He was never trustworthy.' Merph had made it painfully obvious that no friendship would stand in his way to Zarkon's most trusted druids.

She scoffed, and as if on cue Merph's mildly shrill voice erupted in her head.

' _Maya!'_

'What is it?' Her voice was defensive but she had calm her anger. She had noticed him eyeing her bed before he broke into her room the night before, she always knew that he reminded his friends that they shouldn't trust him.

'I'm sorry about your door, did it get fixed?'

'Yeah it did. Next time you want to know something, just ask me.'

'Ah…alright. Are you coming to the combat session?'

'Right outside buddy.'

Before she could move to enter her prints into the lock, the ships announcement speakers went off.

"Attention all soldiers on board, we are under…"

The rest of the announcement was drowned by the loud echo of blast somewhere by the hull of the ship. The ship rocked violently and Maya braced herself against the door, desperately glancing around for some sign of destruction.

'Maya!?' Algor's panicked voice in her head sent her adrenaline spiking, her heart hammering vengefully in her chest.

'Maya I'm harvesting quintessence, someone's in here! He-'

Before he could finish, his voice disappeared which could mean he either lost focus, or he was knocked out.

'…or dead.' Maya panicked at the thought, stumbling in place to get her shield off her back. With the alarms going off and the sound of people running in the distance, her arms began to quiver.

'No, no, no, I need to focus, I need to find Algor.'

Dropping her shield, she stepped onto it, crouching on her knees to keep her body from shaking as she clutched the edges. With the noises in the distance, it took her a few ticks to refocus herself and steady her power to lift the shield off the ground.

Maybe it was the fright, but once she tapped into her power, it let loose as if it had gone wild, the energy spiking along with her heart. She shot down the hall, nearly falling from the shield from the speed.

As she tore through the hallway, she spun her way through other Galra soldiers to not knock into them. However, an explosion to her right sent her flying off her shield into someone that had been hiding.

He screamed in surprise and they rolled from the impact, struggling to untangle themselves. Violently shoving away from him, she threw herself off and stumbled onto her feet, eyes darting to her shield that had lodged itself into the wall above his head.

She glared at it, moving to yank it out when the person she'd crashed into sat up and rubbed his head.

"Ow…what the quiznak."

Tilting her head to stare down at him, the eye-slits of her mask began to glow an intimidating yellow.

"Who are you!?" They yelled in unison, ducking as they were fired at by approaching Galra soldiers.

She ducked and began to yell at them, "I'M ONE OF YOU, YOU IDIOTS!"

They continued to fire and Maya jumped, grabbing her shield and dragging it out of the wall with a grunt. Below her, the man used his weapon to retaliate as Maya dropped to the ground and deflected their fire.

"I need to go before these idiots accidentally kill me." She snapped, jumping onto her shield as she prepared to speed down the hallway

"Whoa…"

Maya turned to finally look at the man properly, realizing that his appearance was very similar to hers.

She glared down at him for a moment, using her mind speak to do what she never imagined she would.

'Grab onto the shield, I'll get you out of here.'

"Eh…?" Confused, he gripped the floating shield and it immediate took off,

"WAIT! WA-" He began to protest, yelping in surprise as Maya veered, narrowly dodging a group of Galra soldiers.

"Wait! I need to get to my lion!"

Distracted, Maya nearly lost her control and her energy fluctuated, the shield nearly hitting the ground.

'Holy shit he's a Paladin.' She could have cursed herself for her naivety, but he was like her- he was human.

"What colour is it?!" Maya asked, rather stupidly when she realized that his armour was white and _blue._ Through the glass, she could see the blue lion soaring along Prorok's ship. Almost as if it was peering into the glass at his paladin. Fascinated, she slowed down to stare at it, feeling prickles up her spine. She leant down to grab the human by the neck, throwing her arm back and pitching him across, straight towards the wall.

"Blueeeeeeee!" His scream faded into the distance as Maya used her powers to momentarily rip a hole through the wall and launch the paladin out into space and right into the mouth of the blue lion. As the metal returned and the gaping hole disappeared, Maya felt a flood of relief.

Glancing over her shoulder, adrenaline rushed through her body as she skidded around the corner and abruptly fell from her shield. She had drained herself of energy and shakily sat up, blinking deftly at the now stagnant shield laying before her.

"Huh?" That had never happened before.

* * *

"Uh…guys? I think one of the Galra just saved my life."

"Not now Lance!" Keith shouted, losing track of the conversation that followed as the druid attacked him again and again. Frustrated with his inability to help, he decided to retreat just as the druid disappeared.

As he ran out into the hallway, he was confronted by another Galra, and this one was heading towards him at full speed. Sword in hand, he moved to cut the enemy down.

"I need a way out of here, now!" Flustered, Keith panicked and chose a random direction to run down.

"Everyone, we need to remain focused on the mission. Keith, we've got your coordinates, the red lion is right by the ship."

Shiro didn't fail to notice that the red lion was _always_ there to get Keith out of trouble.

* * *

As Maya dragged her shield down the hall, she paused to catch her breath. Outside, nearly swimming in space, were the lions. Resting one hand on the cold glass panel, she stared out at them, fascinated.

'They are so fucking cool.'

Lance nearly jumped from the voice in his head, "HOLY QUIZNAK! Did anybody hear that?!"

"Hear what?"-"Are you okay Lance?"-"What are you talking about?"

Annoyed, Lance frowned.

'Maybe it was that Galra soldier that threw me.'

Maya fell over from surprise, not expecting the paladin's voice in her head, 'How are you doing that?!' She retorted with both fear and irritation.

Lance panicked too, 'How are you still in my head!?'

'…I…I have no fucking idea.'

As Maya panicked, the link between them seemed to shatter with some force. The Black Lion was now blocking her view of the Blue Lion. It turned, it's massive figure looming over the lions.

* * *

'Hey, the name's Lance…how about you?...Hello?...Lady?...Masked lady?'

Disappointed, Lance sighed. The Black Lion's eyes glinted purple and then yellow and it _growled._

* * *

In Prorok's ship, Maya sat dazed. From the space between her and the lions, she could've sworn it looked right at her.

When it growled, she heard the rumbling in her mind and it physically knocked her over. Now she was sat dumbly on the floor, staring at the metallic panels of the ships wall below the window.

Her eyes glazed over, her mind empty and numb.

The growl lasted longer in her mind, ripping through her concentration and severing her connection to the quintessence. She was paralyzed.


End file.
